Author's note: Sorry for the long update, but I been really busy with my work which takes a lot of my time, and leaves my mind tired, when I get I home I just want to lay on my bed and don't think about anything else, actually I had already written this chapter and the next one a couple of months back but I didn't had the time or the desire to pass it on my computer, the little free time that I had, I just wanted to spend it playing my videogames, been playing Read Dead Redemption, Super Fcking Great game, got the 100% in the first playthrough, now I'm doing a second to obtain achievements, like the one of the money.
Now about the story I been taking in consideration what the reviews been saying about the witcher being too powerful, well I think I overdid it a little I will try to correct it, but is not that simple, I'm dealing with a character who is no rookie at all, the witcher is an experienced monster slayer who was been spent decades facing horrible beasts, deadly monsters and overwhelming odds, so of course that he will clean the floor with most of the beast or creatures, that are dumb or weak or common enough in the world of warcraft, but I will try to put it in situations where there will be a challenge that can put him in risk ok; I been thinking in a good way to reduce the power of the witcher and I already have an idea for that, I hope you like it when I introduce it in later chapters.
Anyhow; don't get mad if the witcher seems immune against a lot of things, I'm not the one who gave it those things, the author of the books and the developers of the game did it, and the fact I'm taking for reference both, well it's hard not to have an interpretation of him as some kind of medieval superhero; for example a couple of chapters ago when he blocked or deflected all of the arrows that were shoot at him; that's an in-game ability, there is a skill in the game that when gained, allows you to block every single projectile that is shoot at you making those threats harmless, as long as you are blocking of course, there is another skill that rises his chance of blocking an attack +50%, for every attack that comes from behind him, and in this story I'm pretending that all of his attributes and skill trees are at Tier 5, so that's a lot of power, but if you have a suggestion about how to make an interpretation of the witcher without making him look too powerful, be my guest and share it to me in the reviews section.
Anyway, but I think I really made a wrong interpretation of the witcher's healing ability, I remember in the game that that thing, took a somewhat reasonable amount of time to fully heal the witcher (the description was 1 hp per second), I was thinking more of wolverine when I was writing about that skill, whose healing is almost instantly, I messed up in that thing, so I will have to correct that, I will make it like something useful to have, but that should not be relied upon when in battle.
Finally, I will try to pass the next chapter as soon as I am able to, don't worry I will keep writing this story, it may take me from now on a lot of time to update, but I will eventually publish the next update no matter how long it will take to do it.
Disclaimer: I don't own either Warcraft or The Witcher
Chapter 5: explanations and accords
His name was Geralt of Rivia he was a witcher, a professional monster slayer for hire.
Almost an hour has passed since the witcher had dispatched a small scout party from the Scourge at dawn's first lights; the day had cleared and the clouds had diminished allowing to anybody to fully appreciate the sky.
The witcher was currently sitting in the ground near the remains of his bonfire writing new entries in his bestiary for the creatures he had just faced.
The factions leader were approaching him, they wanted to have some explanations about the display of skills they saw him to perform when fighting against the scouts.
Each leader had their small entourage composed of their close advisors and bodyguards, although the leaders had decided to bring just a small amount of people with them, many of the adventures and off-duty soldiers that were assigned in each of the strongholds had decided to tag along with their leaders, with the clearly intention of peeking and see the newcomer; curiosity was a strong sentiment among the factions frontlines, and rumors had been quickly to arise.
They had encountered the witcher writing in his book, the book for them resulted interesting to look, because it had the same symbol of a wolf head that the witcher's pendant was carved of to represent; they decided not to interrupt him and rather they gave him curious looks.
Geralt kept writing despite the fact that he had the leaders of each faction in front of him; he neither looked at them nor spoke to them, despite the fact that he knew that they were standing there; several minutes passed and the witcher was still writing in his book leaving everybody else still waiting and in the loop.
Finally tired of waiting Varian decided that he had enough, he cleared his throat noisily trying to gain the witcher's attention, but the witcher kept writing not heeding him; Varian cleared his throat once more in an even louder fashion only to receive the same results.
In the end Varian, clearly irritated by the witcher rudeness, yelled "God-dammit; don't ignore us you damn wolf; what the fel is that you're doing, that's so important?"
The witcher stopped writing and turned his gaze towards Varian "what am I doing?... writing as you can clearly see" he responded and then added "unless you are blind"
Varian had facepalmed and muttered for himself "the day is just starting and is already proving to be a bad one", he then addressed again to the witcher "actually I'm…."
"Blind in one eye" interrupted the witcher "I suspected as much"
"Wait….what? How do you?... what do you mean that you suspect it?" asked Varian
"Easy, when you where speaking last night, you had one of your soldiers standing beside you with a torch lighted, one of your corneas contracted because of the light, like any normal cornea would do, but the other was still in a regular size despite the fact of having the light falling upon itself, that's where I suspected that you had lost the sight in one eye, must have been when you received that cross-shaped scar of yours" answered the witcher.
"mmmph… really clever, now would you mind telling us what was that you were writing?, or would you prefer to keep trying to drive me nuts? Asked Varian mockingly.
The witcher stared Varian for a few seconds and then responded.
"Neither; I would prefer to be able to finish with my writings rather than doing anything else, I really don't care what is that you wish to know by trying to speak to me, I'm not here to indulge your curiosity, now if you excuse me? I have to finish with my writings"
Varian was fuming, but before he was able to lose his temper Jaina interjected.
"We just wished to know if you were alright, after all you were attacked by a scourge scout party, which means that the Lich king must have felt your arrival to this world".
"I'm fine, I have faced worst and bigger things than those corpses back in my world, they weren't even able to lay a finger on me; actually it was quite an enlightening experience, it allowed me to study those creatures, and saw what they could do; now I can come up with a more efficient way to kill them" the witcher assumed and inquisitive look, and after thinking for a few seconds he asked.
"This master of theirs, this lich king, what makes you think he felt my arrival?
"well, it's too much of a coincidence that a scout party had engage you the same night that you arrived, he must have felt the magical energies released by that; me, Aegwynn and Rhonin felt them, they were immense and no doubt the Lich king felt it too, this are his lands after all, he sees and feels everything that happens here, he must have sent that scout party to look for anything unusual, which means you, but I suppose you could rest easy for now you killed all the scouts, so no one would be able to inform the lich king of your presence in this world, you should from now on tread carefully so you may not attract his attention".
The witcher was silent with a serious expression in his face; and spoke.
"I think is a little too late for that" the witcher sighed "I did not killed all of the scouts; one got away"
Lord Fordring spoke at that.
"Then he knows about your presence here, that could make you a target for the scourge, clearly the Lich king would be interested in adding a skilled individual such as yourself to his undead army, whether you are willing or not".
The witcher scowled briefly, just for a second and said.
"What a bother, is too early for me to be facing the tyrant in turn, I still have much to learn before even seeking to meet with him, which by the way I have no desires to do so".
Aegwynn raised an eyebrow at that and asked.
"Really? What is that you intent to do then?"
The witcher shrugged and answered.
"what I'm going to do, I had already told all of you, I'm going to seek information, this world is new and foreign to me, it has its own dangers and troubles, I require to know everything I can about them, and of the people and creatures that inhabit it; who they are?, what they can do? And if they are dangerous, the proper way to deal with them, I also require to know the history and ways of this world, by preference from the mouths of the people who were there, I also need to get familiar with its layout; in short I require to know absolutely everything of this world in order to adapt and carry on with my trade".
Aegwynn half-smiled at that "mmm… you are a very thorough individual aren't you, mister Geralt?"
"Success is not something achieved by mere chance, it requires preparation and patience, a battle is won long before the combat even starts, not during it" answered the witcher.
"What are you talking about?" interrupted Garrosh abruptly "all that is required to win is strength and will, the rest are excuses and tricks used by the weaklings to compensate for their lack of strength, winning is the only thing that matters and the only way to achieved it is by strength" stated Garrosh bluntly.
The witcher laughed at Garrosh statement utterly pissing him off.
"How cute, you amuse me greatly with your naivety; thinking that you can achieve victory by simply rushing towards your enemy, with no regards for your own life or consequences, real cute, some may think that course of action is brave"
The witcher then became serious.
"But it's a fools notion and one destined to fail, strength alone cannot save you, relay to much in it and it will be your doom.
How come that one that's supposedly has to lead his people to victory can think that such childish notion can succeed? Have you been living under arock or something? "
Varok interjected at that.
"Actually that's not too far from the truth; Hellscream has been living his entire life in a remote isolated village in outland, away from this world conflicts, only recently before the scourge second invasion, and King Varian, over here, return after his long absence, is that Garrosh has been having his first steps into this world, assuming leadership of his father's clan".
The witcher brow twitched clearly that information had displeased him.
"Who the hell thought that putting a noob in charge will be a good idea?" asked the witcher irritated.
"EXCUSE ME, no one calls me a noob and gets away with it, I fought my entire life really hard to make sure that the village of the Mag'har in the land of Nagrand was safe from the perils of Outland, I was one of the few leaders that the villagers turned into when in the need of aid, I and great mother Geya kept them safe, despite the adversities, and is because of my will and my strength that I reached into the position that I am today" responded Garrosh made a fury, ready to pull out his axes and attack the witcher.
Thrall sighed and spoke "Garrosh is right he does know a thing or two about keeping his people safe, but it was I who brought Garrosh here as an advisor of mine, you see Garrosh's father; Grom Hellscream was a good friend of mine, he was a great and brave warrior for our people but he was also a loyal and trustworthy friend, but he had some bad traits of his own he was reckless, headstrong, impatient, and arrogant and even though Garrosh inherited much of Grom's bad temper, I have hopes that he will in the end learn how to be a good leader and member of the horde; allowing him to reclaim the leadership of the warsong clan, was my way to honor the friendship that me and his father once held for each other".
Varok interjected after that "I'm sorry warchief, but no matter how noble are your intentions and expectations I have to agree with the witcher in this one; putting Hellscream in the same position as his father was a mistake".
"How dare you old man and "this" outsider to question my strength and capacities?, My father was a strong and powerful warrior who save all of the horde from the demonic curse of the burning legion, if it wasn't for him all of you will be dead or enslaved by them" . Retorted Garrosh angrily with poison in his voice.
"If it wasn't for your father there would not have been a demonic curse to save us from, in the first place, it was his own stupidity that brought that thing down on us again, after so many years of sacrifice and fighting to get us rid of that curse, you father comes and tossed everything we accomplished through the window, drinking the blood of Mannoroth and enslaving our race once more at the hands of the demons" Replied Varok heatedly.
Thrall interjected quickly at that. "Stand down Varok, it's true that Grom made a terrible mistake by bringing back the demonic curse on us, in a desperate attempt to gain a victory over the night elves, whom he… he mistakenly engage in conflict with".
Thrall was furrowing his brow as if the memory was an unpleasant one.
"That's a lightly way to put it" retorted Tyrande with a scowl.
"Yes I know, I'm sorry Lady Tyrande, I know Grom killed Cenarius your demigod and cut down a great deal of your ancient sacred woods" answered Thrall apologetically "I know Grom made a lot of mistakes during his lifetime, but in the end; in the end he tried to correct them, we manage; Jaina, Cairne and I to break him free from the curse and he and I went to confront the demon Mannoroth to free our people forever from the curse, I was knocked out by the demon strength and Grom alone face him and slay him, sacrificing his own life in the process, and riding our race forever from the demons influence; and I know that one day, Garrosh will learn from his father mistakes, following his example and becoming a leader of which his father and I, would be proud of" finished Thrall with tears starting to form in his eyes.
"Right… it does not matter that he killed and murdered a lot of innocents, and even almost bring doom to your own race of brutes, all is right and forgave just because in the end he felt bad, had a change of heart and end up dead fighting the demons" commented Varian sarcastically.
"WHAAAAAT! You dare to mock of my father sacrifice; I should kill you where you stand, Human". Threatened Garrosh
"The human is right" mentioned Varok.
This brought many surprised stares from practicably everybody, except the witcher who was in his usual demeanor.
"What? What treason is this?, how can you side with the humans against us, old man?" demanded Garrosh.
"Not against us, against you; and that fool of a father of yours" Pointed Varok "his sacrifice does not compensate for all the damage and suffering that he caused and brought upon us and others, if it wasn't for him nothing of that should have happened, we would have never been controlled by the demonic taint again, and a lot of good warriors will still be alive; more important we will not be in animosity with the night elves, if it wasn't for your father impatience, we could have be in good terms with them from the beginning, saving us a lot of bloodshed and lives in the process for both sides, and we could have avoided this stupid conflict that we have with them nowadays, a conflict that by the way we don't need, is just a waste of resources and manpower, which by way we could be using to strengthen our position here in Northerend, against the Lich king and his scourge minions".
Varok paused for a moment to catch his breath; Garrosh took the opportunity to yell him back.
"My father did the honorable thing and died trying to save our race, he was always a fierce warrior devoted entirely to the orcs cause, he always fought and bleed for our people, as for the night elves why would we have to suffer those damnable tree-lovers, my father was right in confronting them they are nothing but weaklings and snobs idiots, who value more the life of a goddamn tree that the life of their so called warriors; we should be crushing them with our might, not wasting words with them, you don't know what you're talking about old man, your nothing but a fool, a relic from the past who's days of glory have long come to pass"
Tyrande and most of the night elves were about to retort Garrosh's insults but before they were able to Varok speaked once more.
"Yes, I'm a fool, We were… we are fools… all of us elders including your father, we were fools for drinking the blood of Mannoroth for the first time so many decades ago, blindly deceived by promises of power, we did terrible things, we were murderers and no matter what we do or say nothing will atone us for our sins, nor fix the damage we inflicted or bring back the lives we took, there was no honor; nothing to be proud of in those days"
"it was a terrible fate that we brought upon us and others willingly, but in the end we realize that we have made the wrong choice, we had acknowledge our own stupidity, and we felt ashamed by our actions, ashamed for what we had done, it took us many years and hardships, but in the end we realize that we could have a better future for our kind, one were we would not be mere expendable tools for the demons, a future away from war, away from the bloodshed and death, away from the suffering; we fought hard to escape from the errors of our past; I thought your father had learned that back then, but clearly he didn't, I shouldn't have been surprised that your father stupidity, made him drank again from the demonic blood he was always an impatient idiot, and you carry much of him with you, the same recklessness, the same stupidity, it would not be a surprise if you do the same stupid mistakes and condemn us to the demons once more".
Garrosh stepped forward without uttering a word, looking with murderous intent toward Varok and pulled out his axes trying to strike him down; Varok parried both axes with his own.
"I will kill you for what you just said old man" growled Garrosh.
Garrosh take a step back and prepare to launch another attack.
"GARROSH, VAROK, STAND DOWN THAT'S AN ORDER" yelled Thrall.
But it was for naught, Garrosh took another swing toward Varok, but he easily deflected the attack and hit Varok hard in the face with the pommel of his axe, sending him to the ground, Varrok then positioned the edge of his axe under Garrosh neck, effectively finishing the confrontation.
"You are so pathetically predictable Hellscream, and it would seem you will not change and see the errors of your ways, I told you before, should you try in your own rashness and foolishness to start a war with the alliance, I will kill you myself, I don't care if the warchief condemn me for treason, I prefer death than to allow a foolish pup warrior wannabe, with disillusions of grandeur to drag the Horde into another useless conflict, I won't let you destroy everything that we fought so hard to accomplish just like your father almost did, I will not allow it" finished Varok tightening his grip on his axe and increasing the pressure on Garrosh neck.
"VAROK THAT'S ENOUGH" ordered Thrall
Varok looked furiously directly at Garrosh eyes, for a few more seconds before backing up, releasing his axe from Garrosh neck.
"As you wish warchief, I shall let the fool live for now" With that he returned to his position back at the warchief's side.
"mmmph, I know is not my place to intervene, but I must said one should not talk ill of the dead, no matter what they had done in life, it tends to attract bad luck, nevertheless, I kinda liked the old man, he really knows how to put the fools in place" casually commented the witcher to no one in particular.
"Well thank you, sometimes is an insufferable thing to do, but someone has to do it" retorted Varok
"Indeed" answered the witcher back.
"SHUT UP, shut up both of you, I will not tolerate this humiliation" growled Garrosh standing back up with a little difficulty, bleeding from the nose. "I will extract my retribution from your severed heads"
"mmmph, your right, he really doesn't learn, does he?" Commented the witcher to Varok, giving a brief glance toward Garrosh.
"Yes, that's why I get all workup; it is really doing wonders for this old man health too, you know" retorted Varok; the witcher nodded sympathetically.
"Ah yes, I do know how troublesome are fools like him, one would simply want to lock them in a box an toss them into the sea"
"Nah I don't think that would work, most probably the sea will get insulted by it and send a tsunami upon us to return the fool back at us".
"Stop talking as if I wasn't here; you stupid old man, I will break you for insulting my father's memory, and you wolf I will crush you for daring to insult and put in doubt my strength and capacities, you are nothing but a coward that use cheap tricks, a weakling who lacks the strength and courage to face the enemy face to face, the total destruction of your enemies that's the only way to achieve victory" Barked Garrosh.
The witcher yawned heavily at that causing dumbfounded looks by most leaders, a smirk in Varok, and an increasing fury in Garrosh.
"Foolish and pointless, if for you victory means the destruction of your enemies, then it does not matter how you obtain it if the results are the same, I really don't care what you think, in my trade, victory means staying alive and defeat means death, if I have to use unconventional and indirect approaches to ensure the demise of my quarries, I would do so without reservations, of what good is honor if you are dead, and your enemy is alive so he can continue with his rampage, you said yourself you only care about the death of your enemies, well that is something that we the witcher's have as one top priority, the complete annihilation of our targets, I have faced creatures that you could have never imagine, not even in your worst nightmares, dreary things that lurks in the shadows waiting to devour the unwary, Savage wild beasts craving for the flesh of the living, things that the mere sight of them are enough to drive a sane man mad, and some things that should never had existed, I faced them all and they all failed to kill me, I survived, and I been doing it for a very long time". Stated the witcher, as he was now the center of attention once more.
"The victories that you saw me obtain while I been in this world, do you think I achieved them by mere strength? No I had taken previously steps to ensure it.
For example, when I was bitten by the bruxas, those vampiric womans, that you called fiends, you saw them die right? do you think that it was because I'm a strong and powerful individual?, no it was because I had previously poisoned my blood so it will be lethal to any of the vampires that fed from me, because I knew it was a possibility that I will get bitten"
"What? How could you have poisoned your own blood? Isn't that dangerous?" Asked Rhonin.
""Those potions that you have saw me drank, are the answer; we witcher's are masters in alchemy we can create potions that enhance our already great set of abilities for a brief time, or induce some temporary changes into our bodies, like turning our blood into poison.
We also create special oils for our weapons that we smear on them, to either improve the weapon effectiveness against certain type of enemies, or we can improve the elements of its forging to be more resilient, lighter, faster, or powerful depending of the oil.
We also made bombs of different types and effects, some are normal explosive devices, others can blind our opponents temporary, or start a fire that cannot be turned off to engulf our enemies, or explode in toxic clouds that sicken and poison anybody who breathe them" explained Geralt.
"Fascinating, is that has something to do with the fact that you defeated a Flesh giant with your bare hands?" asked Rhonin.
"Indeed, I am strong, yes, I already show all of you how much, but I'm not strong enough to brought down a being like that with my own strength, so I had taken a potion previously to increase my strength, and it allow me to beat the hell out of those things" answered the witcher "As I said information is a valuable weapon thanks of it, I manage to properly prepare to dealt with the scout party beforehand"
"What do you mean by that?, your saying that you knew you were going to be attack by the scourge" asked Varian with surprise.
"Yes I had anticipated their coming; as I had told all of you before I have enhanced senses more superior than that of any normal men, with them I heard them and smell them from miles away" stated the witcher.
"They stink quite I a bit, I must said" said the witcher while briefly tapping his nose and giving a wink to Varian.
"anyway, I then asked those two couriers that both factions sent to me, to tell me what they knew about those undead beings, then I decided that I need to test the abilities of those creatures, so I send Torbin and Zungo back to the encampments, that way I could have no worries about bystanders getting hurt, I have faced undead in the past, they do exist in my world too, so I wanted to see if the same methods to slay them in my world worked here".
The witcher grinned
"They passed the test quite well, I must said, nevertheless in my world there are different kinds of undead and all have different ways to be slay, not all can be killed with mere physical combat, an strategy or plan that might work against one, could be harmless against another one, so I assume that there are other undead beings in this world that will require a different approach to be dealt with"
"You are correct about that" stated lord Fordring "the armies of the lich king compress different beasts and creatures, from ghouls, skeleton warriors, and zombies as usual foot troops, to ethereal beings as the banshees and fades , they also include the abominations, flesh giants, gargoyles, necromancers, and even the wyverns, the bones of dragons death long ago, brought back into life by the power of the lich king to fight for him, not to mention that his powers can enslave and twist the local wildlife and beasts to boost his army forces; and also there are his death knights one of the most powerful agents of the lich king, they are the twisted, corrupted counterparts of our paladins, holy warriors, blessed by the light that felled fighting the scourge only to have their souls stolen from them and forced to arise anew to wage war against their former allies and spread the corruption of the scourge".
"…mmm… Undead, ghosts, beasts, corrupted knights and even dragons!... Ugh... Just my luck, this will prove to be quite a deadly challenge, (sigh) I guess I´m not going to be bored for a while, I will require preparing myself to face this scourge"
"you will help us?" asked Jaina hopefully.
"Not quite, I'm a witcher I kill beasts and monsters and get paid for it, this scourge is obviously a collective of monstrous beings and it fall in my jurisdiction to dealt with them, but I will not going to do it for free, I will demand a payment in exchange for their extermination" stated the witcher.
"Yes, yes you are quite the merc, I suspected as much, so you think you can deal with the lich king and its scourge all by yourself?" asked Varian raising an eyebrow.
The witcher scowled "What? No, I'm not stupid enough to raid the fortress of someone who can control the dead all by myself, especially if it has an army of said dead protecting him, we witcher's are no soldiers for any army, we are more like plague exterminators at the service of the people, besides I suspect a frontal confrontation against him will be futile, I will require a more subtle approach to dealt with this matter".
Varyan was bemused "More subtle; you mean like assassination, I thought you were a monster hunter not an assassin?"
"as I said, there are specifics and different ways to ensure the demise of the creatures in my world, some can be killed with mere brute strength, but others require indirect approaches to be defeated, because they are too dangerous or powerful to face head-on, and of course sometimes I been forced to kill humans beings, some of them had been persons in a position of power that could prove troublesome, if I were blamed for their deaths, so I had to rely in subtlety to get the job done".
"Why would you kill humans?" asked Varyan
"remember, I told all of you that sometimes we witcher's are persecuted by envious and greedy people who desire our powers for their own, I have to dealt with them and some were powerful lords or leaders of shadowy organizations, when our secrets where stolen, I had to kill a lot of people to get them back"
Then the witcher remained silent for a minute and looked away from Varian, something was clearly bothering him.
"There are also the times when I encounter people who were so vile, so wretched, so despicable and self-centered, who did not care about sacrificing the life of others to achieve their goals, so terrible were their deeds, that I had to brought my judgment upon them and declared them monsters, and so I kill them using my silver sword; the sword that only I have to use against monsters, never against people". Said the witcher with a grim expression.
Varian was wide eye at that; he remembered the conversation about the witcher's silver sword to be used solely for the purpose of slaying monsters and never to be used to harm people, for the witcher to have used it against another human, something really, really terrible had to be happened; there were similar expressions in the others leaders faces who were present at the time, and murmurs could be heard among the crowd of alliance and horde troops.
"I… I don't think I want to know about what they had to do, for you to do such a thing" declared Varian honestly.
"then you are smart, It is better not to speak of such things, there is nothing good that can come up from remembering them, only pain and sadness" retorted the witcher.
Jaina spoke "I think it will be best to not speak of awful things that will diminish our spirits, it will be unwise to do so in a place such as this, we should center our attention in other matters"
"Yes, your right, let's speak of something else" the witcher took a long breath of air "So I suppose you still have questions, very well for the purpose of diplomacy, I will indulge the lot of you"
"Great! And it only took us half an hour to put you in the mood to answer our questions" stated Varian "Do you always act like this?"
"Yes" answered the witcher bluntly.
Varian gave a look to the witcher "somehow it does not surprise me… why so?"
"Have you been paying attention about anything I have said? Or are you stupid by nature? I fight against evil violent beasts and monsters every day that have the tendency to eat people alive; I am hunted very often by assassins and soldiers send by greedy people who want to steal my power for their own, I am stalked by lords who want to use me or buy my allegiance so I can help them in their own shadowy ends, I am discriminated, feared and hated at the same time by the people I am bound to protect and serve, not to mention that I cannot have normal a peaceful live, because that option was taken from me, I cannot have a family due to my sterility, and If I ever managed to make friends or being in love with someone they tend to die or suffer because they are used as means to get to me, and even if I manage to kept them safe they die anyway, I age really slowly while the rest of the world around me withers and die;
So you try to be all smiles and sunshine with the live I have to endure, my dear pretty giggles King" stated Geralt
"Ok, wrong question, I get it, no need to get all hostile on me, I just wanted to know why always you act so distant and cold, I mean many people have harsh lives but even so they manage to retain a friendly and warm attitude" said Varian.
The witcher stared at him; giving him that look that one does when someone says something really stupid. He then stood up abruptly.
"Oh yes, what a wonderful live I must have, I should feel thankful because someone cares enough about me that they send someone to try to kill me, it doesn't matter what horrible things may happen to me, a happy face and a good attitude will save the day for me; look the love of your life has died, and you lost your memories so you cannot remember her face, leaving and empty hole and a bitter felling swelling inside of you; Do not despair, go dance into the flower fields, while singing a happy song and holding hands with the furry happy little friends of the woods, and everything will be set alright" mockingly said the witcher while performing very ridiculous expressions.
"Now you just being rude" Varian told him.
"oooough; I just felt a chill down my spine, when I tried to imagine him dancing and holding hands with little singing furry animals" stated Dranosh while shaking slightly.
"UUUUgh; damn, your right my son, there is something really wrong with that image; ahhhgh the horror" said the older Saurfang who was now shaking a little too.
"great; now thanks to you two I'm going to have nightmares tonight, I didn't even knew that, that was possible for us the undead" said Sylvannas with a deep scowl in hear face, she shake her head trying to get rid of the image with no avail.
Varian facepalmed he too tried to visualize that image only to develop a sudden head-ache.
All the rest of the people gathered felt too a sudden chill down their spines.
"Creepy Doughts" said Vol'Jin
"Enough we are getting astray from the subject here" Ordered Varian.
Tyrande was pondering about something.
"Despite the….. Interesting thought about the furry animals, I did hear something that was odd; what is that about the love of your life dying and losing your memories about her?
The witcher closed his eyes and grimaced, and then looked away from the leaders while sighing heavily.
"Do you remember when I told you about how the woman I loved died trying to save me?" asked the witcher
The leaders answered positively.
"Well she almost failed to do it, I was so badly injured that I almost die, I was injured in the chest and the weapon was ramming trough my body, so I wasn't able to heal, by the time it was removed it was a little too late for me, she sacrificed a lot of her magical power to revive me, and she died for it, but the thing is when I woke up, I had lost all of my memories, I didn't remember who was I, where was I, or were I had come from.
It was kinda hard trying to get by with amnesia, luckily I was found by fellow witchers who gave me some much needed explanations, telling what was I and what was I supposed to do, I also find a former acquaintance of mine, a sorceress named Triss Merigold, she gave me also some information and a brief explanation about the current situation of the land and put me into the right direction to try to reclaim my former life" the witcher stayed silent for a few moments lost in thoughts.
"but never mind about that, suffice to say that I was able to remember enough to reclaim my life, over time I have recovered almost all my memories, but the memories that I have not yet remembered are those of the woman that I once loved, I remember the feeling, I remember that I loved a sorceress very much, that she and I used to travel together trough the land, and that we spend a lot of years together, but I cannot remember her face, every time that I tried to do it I fail, it's like a veil of mist surround her and blurry my vision, and I cannot get past it no matter how hard i try; over time I remembered more and more feelings that I used to have for her; but her image still escapes me, it makes me feel hollow and empty, those feelings become like poison tormenting my mind and my thoughts, it is a terrible thing to know that you loved someone with all your soul, but you cannot remember who that someone was"
"Dat's so mezzed up; Mon!" stated Vol'Jin.
"How long has it been since you lost your memories?" asked Jaina.
"Six years" answered the witcher.
Jaina remained silent for a while, ten years is a long time to be carrying such suffering, what surprised her most is that the witcher was so good to hide his feelings, one could not suspect that despite his coldness, he carry a great burden upon his shoulders. "I'm sorry" said Jaina.
"No need to be, there was no way for you to know and besides this is something that it only pertains to me" responded the witcher.
Varian could relate to that, he had suffered something similar when the dragon onixya disguised as lady Prestor tried to take control of his kingdom, by kidnapping him and separating his essence into 2 opposite personalities, causing him total amnesia, he escaped his capturers only to be later caught again, this time by orcs who turn him into a gladiator and force him to fight deadly foes to entertain them, he won battle after battle, and which each passing day he remembered more and more of his life, eventually he escaped with the help of 2 fellow partners and gladiators, Valeera Sanguinar and Broll Bearmantle; they continue to help him during his travels until finally he was able to return to his homeland, bringing to light the plot of the dark dragon to take rule over Stormwind, he defeated the dragon and later slay it in order to save his son, who had been kidnapped by Onyxia in a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand, during the battle Varian reunited with his other half that was separated from him, becoming into one individual again, and gaining the strength required to slay the dragon, after the dragon was killed and his head brought back to Stormwind, Varian reclaimed his right as king of Stormwind, bringing back some measure of stability for the kingdom; that is of course the short version of the story.
"I know of what you are talking about" said Varian.
"You do?" asked Geralt incredulous.
"Yes I too lost someone that I loved the most and suffered from memory loss that made me forget about her, albeit temporary, it was really shocking to me when I remembered that I had a wife and that she had died, but I also remembered we had a son together and that I was a king and had a kingdom to rule" answered Varian.
"uhh must have been quite the adventure" said the witcher.
Varian half-smiled at that "yes, yes it was".
Sylvanas was starting to get impatient and hissed "Sorry for interrupting this precious bonding moment between the human king and the so called mercenary, but I'm getting sick of this dilly dally, we been just avoiding the subject, and I want to know what the hell is that the wolf man was writing in that book of his"
The witcher was a little upset with Sylvanas interruption, but he decided to answer her nevertheless "first of I'm not a mercenary, I'm a witcher I been saying it since I arrived here, in case you haven't paying attention, second I'm not a wolf man, I may just have the looks of a wolf, that's all" said geralt while brushing his hair a little with his hand.
"Anyway what I was writing in this book" Geralt held the bestiary so it may be clearly seen by the leaders "were my impressions of those monsters that I faced, this is my bestiary here I have entries of every single beast and monster that I have faced during my entire career, with descriptions of every single one of their skills, tendencies, strengths, weaknesses, and proper ways to dealt with them, It's one of the most important possession and tool of a witcher" stated Geralt.
Now Jaina curiosity was piqued by that; as the curious and avid seeker of knowledge person that she was, she cannot help to be intrigued about what kind of creatures existed in another world entirely different from her own.
"Could we take a look at it? If is not much of a bother?" asked Jaina trying to hide the eagerness in her voice.
The witcher was amused by Jaina expression and think briefly of how to respond her.
"well it certainly there would be nothing bad to letting you peek a little, but I'm afraid I'm not a person who simply show his goods just for the sake of it, I have to get something out of this, so you may have to try a little of persuasion on me" said the witcher with a sheepish smile.
Jaina rested a hand on her hips and smiled a little "what kind of persuasion?" she asked.
"I don't know, but I'm sure a lovely and attractive young woman like you could find some way to persuade a man like me"
Jaina looked incredulously toward the witcher "Are you serious?" she asked, the witcher merely stayed quiet looking innocently toward his surroundings.
Jaina rectified her stance, trying to remain serious "wait… are you playing with me? She asked.
"Am I? I wasn't aware that we were playing about something, I thought we were merely talking" retorted geralt with a sly smile.
"Are you always like this when speaking to women? I thought it was dangerous to entangle with you, not to mention you are… well you have some disadvantages" Asked Jaina.
"It can't be helped, really, why would I let my disadvantages, to stop me from enjoin the company of lovely ladies such as yourself, I really like to play and besides some ladies like the danger" answered the witcher with a grin.
"Ha! That may be true but I'm afraid, I'm not one of those ladies, mister Geralt" retorted jaina faking innocence.
"oohhhhh, too bad but well, that still doesn't solve this current situation, but I'm a reasonable individual, and I think we may find an agreement that will leave both parties satisfied"
"This conversation is starting to make me feel embarrassed" said Varian.
The witcher shrugged "it's not fault that the ladies found me to be quite the charming and lovable individual"
"You? Lovable? Ugh now I'm really feeling sick now, as if it wasn't enough with your flatly flirting with Jaina" retorted Varian.
"Flirting? Am I? I'm not doing such a thing, I happen to hold a great amount of important knowledge from my world, and it would be unwise from my part to simple reveal it to anyone without some form of assurance, if you think that there is some hidden intention in my statements, then it's not my fault that you have such a dirty mind, shame on you, I cannot believe that a king will think of such things from an innocent bargain" stated the witcher while mockingly faking to be insulted.
Jaina giggled at that and decided to play along "Mister Geralt is right, it would be unwise to reveal someone secrets without getting something out of it, but I have to asked you mister Geralt, It's that all that you can offer to us, surely a great witcher such as yourself will not just be able to offer just that, I'm sure you must be able to offer more, otherwise it would be disappointing" stated Jaina with a sweet voice.
The witcher was grinning at her; he really enjoyed this kind of interactions with women "of course not this just to qualm your appetite, if the knowledge of creatures is not of your interest, nor the layout of the land from the maps that I hold, which by the way you still had the one that I lend to the lot of you"
Jaina made an expression that could be describe as an "oooooops" for having forgotten that they still haven't returned the witcher's map, and made apologetic motions with her hands.
The witcher continued "I also happen to have books describing the cultures and story from the most important nations in my land, and botanic books depicting the different plants and ingredients from my world and their effects, this one I tend to use it along another book of mine that is just like my bestiary, but this one is for storing all my alchemical formulaes from which I made my potions, oils and bombs"
That statement picked the interest not only from Jaina, but also from many of the people present, and even Sylvannas was intrigued she had already seen the effects of some of the witcher potions, and was interest of knowing more about his particular way of alchemy, for reasons only her own.
"You have a book full of alchemical recipes foreign to us, that's… that's, yes, yes I think that will be acceptable mister Geralt" answered Jaina trying to not losing her balance.
The witcher turned seriously "Now let us peak seriously for a moment, I'm not really sure if I should show my alchemical formulaes to all of you, if I'm going to do it you must take extremely caution, and not fool around with them, although some of my formulaes are simple and well know in my world, others are rare and dangerous if mishandled, so you should not be reckless with them, but I have my doubts many of my formulaes are really powerful and I don't feel to expose this world to foreign alchemy that could prove detrimental to it, if not used properly".
Jaina responded "I understand, don't worry mister Geralt we assure we have the means to ensure that no one will mishandle that knowledge in order to avert a catastrophe, right archmagister Rhonin?" addressed Jaina to Rhonin.
"Yes, that's right Miss proudmoore the Kirin Tor has the means to ensure the proper study of this new knowledge safely without worry that something bad might happen"
"I'm not sure yet, what is this Kirin Tor you speak of, some kind of wizards organization?"Asked the witcher a little hesitant.
"The Kirin Tor is the main organization in this world dedicated to the proper study and employ of magic, they are most than qualified to handle this knowledge with the outmost care, I myself am a member of them, I must said" explained Jaina.
"….mmm…. Very well sounds reasonable enough" said Geralt
"Now that we are at it, we should also discuss the matter of the magic that you wield" stated Rhonin.
"Magic? you mean my signs?"
"Signs?" asked Rhonin.
"Yes that's how they are called, the signs are simple magic spells that we witchers use in combat, they can prove to be quite effective when used properly, there are not complex due to the fact that they are one of the most basic forms of magic in my world, much of the spells from my world require the use of complex magical formulaes in order to be casted, the signs require neither the use of a formulae nor the consumption of one magical energy reserves, instead the signs tap in the endurance of the one who is casting the spell, if you cast too much spells you eventually will get tired and will require a brief respite to catch your breath before being able to continue" explained Geralt.
"…mmm… interesting, I see something like that could be really useful" muttered Rhonin.
"Indeed they are; anyway that's what I have to offer, now what do you have to offer me".
Jaina smirked, and assumed a dignified stance.
"Well you already told us that you seek information about our world, and we could provided it to you, we could allow you to look on our records, libraries and such, we could introduce you to our best scouts and rangers so they may teach you the layout of the lands and the creatures that dwell within it, we are after all the two main factions of the people of this world and because of that we have a great amount of resources that we can put at your disposal to satisfy every of your needs?"
"Every need?" the witcher asked with a mischievous smile.
That made Jaina to blush, realizing the implications of that statement.
Varyan interjected without losing a beat "Oh no, not again, we ain't going to fall in that game of yours once more, the kingdom of stormwind is not a brothel, what jaina said was, that we would give you any information or resource you may need, not give you wenches for your entertainment"
Thrall interjected too "I agree with King Varian, the horde too is neither a faction of pimps; I never thought someone would make that kind of implications in a dealing with us"
The witcher was chuckling, "fair enough, I expected nothing else form all of you; I just was curious how you would react at that, those were priceless expressions; besides I need no help when dealing with the ladies I can take care of that on my own, in fact I already have my eye on someone" the witcher took a small glimpse toward Jaina, who take notice of it and felt a lot more embarrassed than before.
"Damn, you certainly don't waste your time, Laddie" commented king bronzebeard "how is it possible that someone who is supposedly be sterile, have such lust?"
The witcher raised an eyebrow "Do you really want to know?"
"No, I think it is best for our mental sanity not to hear the origins of your depravity" stated Varian.
"I take offense at that" replied the witcher crossing his arms.
"Whatever, so are you going to accept Jaina's offer or not?"
The witcher stayed with his usual blank face for a few moments before answering "You really have a way for diplomacy, your highness" remarked Geralt "well despite your poor diplomatic skills or must I say lack of them" clearly the witcher was trying to pick on Varyan again, who merely snorted at that "I must agree with lady Jaina offer, I will allow for you to look in my books, logs and journals, under my supervision of course I don't want anyone to mishandle or use my knowledge for the wrong deeds"
The witcher was really serious about that, he received nods of understanding and approval from most leaders, except Sylvanas who was already formulating a way to get her hands on that alchemical formulaes.
"Anyway I will allow all of this in exchange for you to do the same with me regarding the way of your own world"
Jaina Replied "Thank you mister Geralt, I promise you will not regret your decision"
"I seriously doubt it, things normally tend to end bad for me, but one can hope"
Jaina felt a little awkward and decided to change subject "So?... Can we take a look of your bestiary?" she asked
"….Sure you may take a look into it" answered the witcher; with the Bestiary in his grasp, he extended his arm toward Jaina offering her the Book.
She made a courteous reverence to offer her thanks to the witcher and grabbed the book, she took a few paces backwards and decided to open it, curiosity beaming inside her, some leaders including; Aegwynn, Rhonin, Varyan, Thrall, Tyrande and Cairne positioned themselves behind Jaina to try to take a look of the book too.
When Jaina opened the book she was awestruck, she had never seen such creatures in her entire life, some were hideous, ugly and terrifying, not even the most grotesque of the murlocks could cause the repulsion that some of this creatures cause to her, and if she felt like this just by looking at depictions of them, she did not want to wonder; how will it be to meet one of this creatures for real.
She was not the only one to have such thoughts as some of the leaders behind her, felt similar emotions.
"By the Light, what kind of monsters are these?"
"Spirits, I have never seen something so hideous in my entire life"
"Elune, not even the Satyrs are so ugly"
The only ones who had managed to hold their semblance where Aegywinn who kept her inquisitive look, taking notice every single piece of information that was displayed, and Rhonin who only shown mildly surprise.
Jaina kept passing the pages and found that not all the creatures were horrible, others looked so cute and pretty, that leave her without breath, when she saw their beauty; That made her feel calm and settled from the first impressions in the witcher's Bestiary, the others leaders felt like her too.
"Beautiful"
"So pretty"
But also not all of the pretty creatures were marked as kind and peaceful; some were mark as disguises that were used to lure unsuspecting victims into a false sense of security, to leave them exposed to the monster bloodthirst, it then displayed its true form and devoured the helpless victim.
That made Jaina felt chills down her spine, certainly the witcher's world was a very dangerous place, nevertheless she was surprise as how thorough this book was, it contained a very deep description of every creature, depicting its habits, demeanors, strengths, weaknesses, abilities, likes, dislikes, environments, practically everything you can't think of for describing someone this book had it in every single of its entries, it was indeed a very well made work.
Aegwynn made her opinion be heard "this is a very impressive piece of work, mister Geralt, I have never seen a book that was so descriptive in its contents, and you said that you have faced all this creatures"
"Yup" was the witcher's answer.
"Remarkable, you certainly are a very impressive individual mister Geralt, you manage to somehow continuously surprise this old woman, and I have seen a lot in this life of mine"
The witcher merely shrugged at that
"You don't seem to care much for praises, do you?" asked Aegwynn.
"Hum, the only thing that praises are good for, is to attract unwanted attention to one self, and that only hinders the carry of my trade". Aegwynn raised an eyebrow at him "Anyhow when and where; are we going to make our share of knowledge; I don't expect you would like it to do it, right here in the middle of a snowy road?"
"You are right mister Geralt, I had not chosen a place to properly carry the exchange of knowledge" stated Jaina a little startled that she had forget about that issue. "I don't think any faction would like to allow members of the other faction to enter in their strongholds here in the wrathgate to carry a proper summit"
"You are right Jaina, besides this is too soon and unexpected, we have came here to discuss strategies, military operations and possibilities for an unified assault at the wrathgate, not politics or lore exchange; siege camps are not build for that sort of things" interjected Varian.
Thrall had also something to say "well that doesn't seem to be much of a trouble, if we want a neutral and safe place here in Northerend there is one option that comes to my mind, although I hope it is not much of a bother to you master Rhonin for such a suddenly demand"
"Is not a bother at all Thrall, I was planning to offer the assistance of the Kirin Tor to settle that matter anyways" Rhonin made signals to his entourage to follow him " come we have to go back to the violet citadel to prepare the accommodations for a proper summit among the faction leaders"
The witcher stands up finally from his sitting position and dust himself off "well, it seems you have everything settled now…. So, where are we going?" he asked.
Jaina looked at the witcher and answered "to Dalaran".
….
In the inside of a great and magnificent hall made of ice and stone, an ethereal winged being was moving through it, this being was composed of a glowing white-bluish orb that acted as his body, surrounded by bones; the thing had several horned skulls that represented his heads, long bone arms and bone wings, he practically had the upper bone structure of his body well defined, of the lower part he had none; he was practically floating due to his lack of legs.
This being was approaching to some kind of throne made of ice; in it was sitting a large humanoid being encased in a massive and intimidating black armor, also wearing a dreary looking helmet that had carvings of a crown.
"I bring news my liege" spoke the phantasmal being with a hollow and empty voice
"Speak Lord Marrowgar" demanded the black armored humanoid.
"One of the scouts that you send last night to investigate the disturbance that you felt, has returned my liege; he informed me that the scout party found a strange individual with the features of a wolf, waiting patiently in the middle of the road, they tried to eliminate him and bring his corpse back here for study, but the individual in question seem to posses great fighting skills, it is with great shame and sadness that I inform you my lord, that the entire scout party was wiped out by this single individual, only one Geist survived"
"That is of no consequence, they serve their purpose, now tell me more of this individual" was the reply of the black armored humanoid.
"The Geist informed me that the individual in question was wearing sturdy black leather armor with a chainmail underneath, his hair and skin were white as snow, and he had a scar in his left eye, his eyes were golden colored like some kind of wild animal, and his facial structure resemble that of a wolf, the Geist informed that he was the fastest being he had ever saw moving, and that the managed to hurt one of the flesh giants with his bare hands"
"…mmm… interesting, although defeating a bunch of ghouls is hardly something remarkable, but being able to go one on one with a flesh giant and succeed; now that is really something that can pick my curiosity" the armored being turned his attention to his right side and spoke towards the gloom and shadows that dwelled within the room "what do you think of this, Kel'Thuzad?"
A creature materialized from the shadows practically from nowhere, just like lord Marrogar this creature was a skeletal being, he had all the upper body bones and form of a human being, the only difference was that his fangs were long and sharp and the thing had long horns on top of his head; because of being a skeleton, he had no flesh or visible organs, just plain-naked bones; the thing had no eyes, just empty black sockets were the eyes should be; it had some kind of ornament headwear covering the back of his head, the creature had no legs instead he was floating in the middle of the air but he was wearing some cloth garbs and tunics attached at his waist, that were covering the empty space where his legs should be, an ice cold mist was seeing escaping from underneath his tunic; His clothes were covered by some strange runic symbols.
The creature spoke in a chilly icy voice "I had never heard of such individual before milord, I believe he may be related or at least he knows something about the great magical outburst that was felted last night; I suggest we should keep an eye on him, find out who he is, maybe we could make him an asset for our forces milord"
"mmmph" muttered the black armored being, while in deep thought "we may require some tests to see if this man-wolfcan be of use for us; Lord Marrowgar" addressed the black armored being "You will take care of that; make sure to verify if he could be an asset to the scourge and if not, if he is a threat that we should eliminate immediately or just little more of a bother not worthy of the scourge attention; go with professor Putricide and tell him to lend you some of his experiments for this endeavor; Is that clear?"
"Yes milord, it shall be done" Lord Marrowgar made a reverence and departed from the room.
Soon the witcher will have to face against powerful and dreary forces that will threaten to corrupt him, but that's another story, for another time.